accidental design: viagra vs. barbie -- what to do when customers use your product in an unintended...
DESCRIPTION
Accidental Design occurs when customers use your product to solve a problem other than the one you originally intended. Viagra, potato chips, artificial sweetener, the microwave and even the World Wide Web all are examples of products that are used in ways not originally intended. Each a success in their own right, but it begs some questions. How do you recognize Accidental Design? Once you’ve recognized it, what do you do about Accidental Design? We'll explore the all-too-familiar phenomena so you can walk away with a strategy of what to do when you encounter Accidental Design. What You Will Learn • Examples of Accidental Design in various industries • How to quickly understand what your customers are doing with your product • Ways to enhance your product based on these accidental uses • When to reposition the product and pivot and how to evolve the product and the business model • Tips and tricks to more accurately predict what customers will do • How to better listen to customers and build better business requirements #BigD13 Presentation design by J. Schuh of Toons-N-DesignTRANSCRIPT
Accidental Design
Accidental Design occurs when people use your product or service in a way it was not intended
What is Accidental Design?
Failure or Happy Accident?
Pfizer initially did clinical trials of Viagra as a cardiovascular drug, which could lower blood pressure
One pill, 30 minutes later…something else stood out!
Accidental Design: Viagra
“People didn't want to give the medication back because of the side effect of having erections that were harder, firmer and lasted longer.'‘
-- Dr. Brian Klee
It Solved a Different Problem
Failure and Happy Accident
• First year sales exceeded $1 billion• Senator Bob Dole endorsed the drug• Parodied on Saturday Night Live• #1 drug for erectile dysfunction• Classic example of Accidental Design
Fast Facts on Viagra
• Once Accidental Design is identified, shift back into the “normal” process• New testing• Patents• Patient literature, Marketing, etc.
• Accidental Design isn’t bad• You have to be on the lookout for Accidental
Design
Important Lessons from Viagra
Intentional Design
What is Intentional Design?
Intention Design occurs when people use your product or service in the ways you intended
Barbie: Intentional Design
Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler noticed that her daughter, Barbara, preferred to play with paper adult dolls rather than her three- dimensional , high-quality baby dolls.
Fast Facts on Barbie• Barbie debuted at the
World’s Fair in 1959• Barbie is the most No. 1
doll in the world for 40+ years
• Three Barbie dolls are sold every second
• Barbie comes in 50+ nationalities
• She has 300+ Facebook pages
No 3D dolls of teens existed in the U.S. but they did in Germany
Ruth’s husband, Mattel co-founder & Barbara’s father was skeptical
He didn’t believe girls would play with teen dolls
It took 3 years for him to relent and Barbie debuted at the World’s Fair on 1959
However…Barbie Almost Didn’t Happen
Intentional Design & Accidental Design are Not
Mutually Exclusive
Accidental Design Intentional Design
In fact, they’re complimentary
1860: Saratoga Springs, NYCrum’s Lakeside Restaurant
Chef George Crum’s TatersChef George Crum’s fried taters were very popular in Saratoga Springs, except with one customer -- Cornelius Vanderbilt.
He sent them back.
Three times! An angry Crum chopped his potatoes razor thin, deep fried them, and put salt on them. Lots of salt. His customer still complained, but he…
Wanted More Potato Chips
Accidental Design
A number of inventions in the 1920s & 1930s took the potato chip from a restaurant item to a top-
selling snack food
1920 -- potato peeler1926 -- sealed bag1929 -- continuous fryer1932 -- Herman W. Lay started The H.W. Lay Distributing Co.1937 -- Lay’s potato chips had become the first successfully marketed national brand of chips
Up until the 1950s chips were unseasoned; Salt was supplied in a sealed packet inside the chip bag
That changed in 1954 when Joe "Spud" Murphy of Tayto added the first flavor to
chips -- Cheese & Onion -- in Ireland
Today, potato chips are America's favorite snack food
We consume 4 billion pounds of potato chips
every year, spending $7 billion
From Accidental to Intentional Design
If you’ve open to both Accidental Design and Intentional Design, there is the opportunity
for true Design Innovation
1. Observing2. Admitting you can be wrong3. Willingness to fail
True Design Innovation Requires 3 Things
1. You Must Observe
Way to Observe Users• Website analytics• Surveys• Anecdotal• Reports• Patterns• Anomalies• Focus groups• Online panels
• Customer support• Market Research• Conferences• Forums• Social Media• Phone• In-person• Heat-map test
Focus on behavior – what a user does
Not what they say they will do
IDEO Process
Key Takeaways:•Explore more ideas more quickly•Create a prototype within first week •Have a mixture of roles involved end-to-end
RAD: Failing Fast
Lean UX: Learning Fast
2. Admit You Can Be Wrong -- It’s OK
Our process-driven approaches focus on improving the defined solution
Instead of ensuring we’ve correctly identified the right problem
opportunity to solve
Prototype to Prove the Problem
It’s How IDEO Created the First Mouse for Apple
Roll on Soap dish Prototype
Without properly defining the problem, you’re simply hoping for a happy accident
Aspartame & Saccharin: Accidental Design
Artificial sweeteners discovered by scientists who didn’t wash their hands
Microwave: Accidental Design
A radar melted the candy bar in Percy Spencer’s pocket
Tim Berners-Lee set out to create a document sharing system for physicists
3. Be Willing to Fail
Instead he built the World Wide Web
Accidental Design
Final Thoughts
Accidental Design occurs when people use your product or service you in a way it was not intended.
Accidental Design Happens
Intentional Design HappensIntention Design occurs when people use your product or service in the ways you intended.
Preston McCauley created Project Storytime as an app for parents and their kids to create stories together
They Aren’t Mutually Exclusive
Project Storytime is also used as a tool for:- Teaching young students to read- Learning a new language- Teaching students with cognitive disabilities
A New Market Emerges
Accidental Design and Intentional Design Actually
are Complimentary
The Key is to Take a Chance & Be Open to Both
Accidental Design Intentional Design
1. Observing
2. Admitting you can be wrong
3. Willingness to fail
And Remember True Design Innovation Requires 3 Things
Keep This in Mind as You Design
You Just Might Change the World
